Dental gingival retraction cord dispenser

ABSTRACT

A gingival cord container cap is disclosed featuring a cord dispensing gate mechanism formed by cooperating parts of a pivoted dispensing spout and a cap base in which the spout is socketed. Cord threaded out of the container through a hole in the cap base and through the spout may be withdrawn freely when the spout is swung into alignment with the hole in the base (i.e., the gate-open position). As the spout is pivoted out of such alignment (closing the gate) the cord is pinched and held, so that it may be cut off flush with the aperture of the spout, protectively retaining the remainder in the container. Swinging the spout back into aligned position causes a short segment of the pinched cord to be automatically projected out of the tip of the spout where it can be manually grasped for withdrawing additional cord from the container as needed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to improvements in dispensing cord containers;more specifically, to a dispensing cap for gingival cord containers.While disclosed in its preferred embodiment for that application in thedental profession, it will be recognized that features of the inventionare also of utility in other fields of use.

The use of gingival retraction cord in the dental profession typicallyinvolves frequent dispensing of short lengths of cord from a roll orother bulk source of cord. The high standards of hygiene employed by theprofession make it desirable that the cord be protected fromcontamination at all times. It is therefore desirable that the cordsupply for use be stored entirely within a closed, antiseptic container.During times of withdrawal of the cord when lengths to be severed foruse are required, it is desirable that the cord be exposed to as littlemanual handling as possible. Thus, the requirements of the professiondictate a retraction cord dispensing device in which cord may be storedin a sterile environment and dispensed in any desired length with aminimum of exposure to contamination.

The demands of the profession also make it desirable that a dentist orhis assistant be able to quickly and efficiently obtain any desiredlength of retraction cord from the stored coil. Any delay caused byhaving to untangle the cord or thread it through a dispenser, or byawkward handling requirements in withdrawing and severing the requiredlengths is highly undesirable in view of the critical time constraintsand immediacy of demands during treatment of a patient.

The practice within the dental profession in the past has been to storeretraction cord in narrow-mouthed plastic bottles with screw caps.Typically, the cord is not rolled or coiled within the bottle, resultingin occasional tangling of the cord and attendant inefficiency in use.Also, since there is no positive means for grasping the cord when thecap is off the bottle, the end of the cord occasionally falls back intothe bottle where it can be manually extracted only with some difficulty.To guard against this, the common practice has been to leave a shortlength of cord exposed outside the bottle and grasped by the screw cap.This practice, however, it unsightly and exposes the end of the cord tocontamination.

Therefore, a basic object and purpose of this invention is to provide adevice which stores the retraction cord in a protected environment whennot in use.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device whichfacilitates quick and reliable dispensation of any desired length ofretraction cord.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a cord dispensingcontainer cap incorporating a gate device, closure of which holds thecord firmly to facilitate severing the withdrawn length at the tip ofthe dispensing spout and thereafter continues to hold the severedretained end of the cord against falling back into the container orslipping father out of the spout.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a cord dispensinggate device, the opening of which simultaneously both releases the cordfor withdrawal from the container and projects the retained end of thecord sufficiently beyond the tip of the dispensing spout to allow it tobe grasped readily for withdrawl of additional cord from the container.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

With the foregoing and related objectives in view, the inventionutilizes in novel manner a type of dispensing cap device heretofore usedon containers of skin lotions and other liquids. The cooperating socketsurfaces of the cap's dispensing spout that serve as a valve device,opened and closed by swinging of the spout into and out of alignmentwith a hole in the cap base, here serve in a unique functionalrelationship with gingival retraction cord, threaded through the holeand spout, to act as a cord dispensing gate. With its inner end or hubof enlarged semicylindrical form and socketed in a complementary formedrecess in the cap base to pivot about a transverse axis, the corddispensing spout serves as a handle to open and close the dispensinggate by swinging into and out of alignment with the cap base hole.

When the spout is pivoted out of alignment with the cap base hole, thecord is pinched and held against withdrawal from the container betweenthe semicylindrical end surface of the spout and an opposing ridge onthe cap socket wall in the form of a raised annular lip around the holein the cap base. In that position of the spout, the cord can beconveniently severed close to the tip of the spout. The remaining cordwill be held securely against falling back into the container. Moreoverthe remaining cord extends from the spout tip back to the hole in thecap by a circuitous route including a partial wrap around thesemicylindrical socket portion of the spout. The several elementscooperate in unique manner such that when the spout is swung back towardaligned position, a short but readily graspable length of cord isprojected automatically out of the tip of the spout and the pinchinggrip on the cord is released so as to permit withdrawing additional cordfrom the container. The elements cooperating for that purpose include:the availability of the length of cord embodied in that partial wrap,the free slidability of the end portion of cord in the spout bore andthe pinching, sliding feed action of the aforementioned ridge on the capsocket wall.

The cord dispenser is particularly useful with a helically wound,self-supporting coil of cord which is dispensed from the center of thecoil. Cord packaged in this manner is self-supporting until entirelyconsumed and does not require bobbins or spools. Dispensing the cordfrom the center of the coil virtually eliminates inteference of coilturns which may otherwise cause tangling during cord withdrawal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of theinvention with the spout separated from the cap for illustrationpurposes and oriented in its gate-open position;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cord dispenser in its closed,cord-holding position;

FIG. 3 is a sectional side view of the cord dispenser in its open,cord-released position;

FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of the cord dispenser in the process ofbeing opened; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the cord dispenser in its closed position,the view also showing a length of cord severed at the tip of the spout.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1-5, inclusive, the illustrative and preferredembodiment of the cord dispenser comprises a dispensing spout 1pivotally mounted on a base 2 in the form of a threaded container cap.The leading end of cord 3 stored coiled at 15 in container 4 (such as aplastic bottle on which the cap is mounted) is threaded through acentral hole 13 in the dispenser base 2 and through a central bore 8 inthe dispensing spout 1.

As shown in particular in FIG. 1, the device is as designed commerciallyfor a known type of lotion dispenser cap. As such, a number of detailsillustrated for convenience herein are not essential nor of specialpurpose to the present invention. The dispensing spout 1 comprises anelongated dispensing arm 5 extending radially from a semicylindrical hub6. Extending coaxially from each side of the hub 6 are stub shafts 7 and7'. The cord is threaded through a straight bore 8 which passesdiametrically through the center of the hub 6 and along the longitudinalaxis of the dispensing arm 5. The cord emerges through an orifice 9 atthe tip of the dispensing arm 5. The diameter of the orifice is or maybe slightly less than the diameter of the bore 8. The orifice diameteris greater than the diameter of the cord by only so much as to allow thecord to slide freely through the aperture. Herein, the term "semi", suchas in "semicylindrical", is used in its more general sense and not todenote precisely "half" of something.

As is also shown in particular in FIG. 1, the dispenser base 2 comprisesopposing aligned semicylindrical stub shaft bearing sockets 10 and 10'and, in the space between them, a semicylindrical socket 11 of largerdiameter accommodating the spout hub 6. Hole 13 in the base of socket 11passes centrally through the dispenser cap base 2 and is encircled by aprotruding annular lip or ridge 14 that presses slidably against thesemicylindrical surface of the spout hub 6 with the parts assembled.Hole 13 and bore 8 lie in a common plane. The sockets 10 and 10' extendover somewhat more than 180 degrees so that once the stub shafts 7 and7' are snapped into position, permitted by resilient flexibility of thebase material, for example, polyethylene plastic, they will pivotallyretain the shafts as depicted.

The spout hub socket 11 is also semicylindrical and its arccircumferentially offset from the hole 13. The resultant semiannular gapbetween the hub surface and the surface of socket 11 slidablyaccommodates a partial wrap of the cord 3 extending from hole 13 to thespout bore 8 when the spout 1 is in its transversely disposed position(FIGS. 2 and 5). The pivoted spout, spout bore, spout hub cylindricalsurface, base cylindrical surface, hole 13 and hole lip or ridge 14cooperate to perform functions that can be appropriately characterizedas those of a dispensing gate. Thus, with the gate closed (with thespout arm 5 disposed transverse to the axis of hole 13) the cord ispinched and held against sliding in or out of the hole 13. Thus, whenthe spout is being swung from aligned position into the closed,transverse position with a length of cord having previously been drawnout through bore 8, the revolving motion of the spout draws a certainamount of cord back through the bore and wraps it around the spout hub6. During that process, pressure of the lip 14 pinching the cordslidably against the cylindrical surface of spout hub 6 exerts theholding force that permits rotation of the spout to draw the cordinwardly through bore 8. In the gate-open position, illustrated in FIGS.1 and 3, the bore 8 of the dispensing spout 1 is aligned with the hole13 in the cap base 2 and the pinching action of the lip 14 isterminated. Thus, cord 3 may be drawn freely from the bottle 4 throughthe dispenser. Thereafter, upon swinging of the spout into itstransverse, closed position the cord 3 is securely held so that it maybe cut off substantially flush with the orifice 9 by a scalpel or knifeapplied at the tip of the dispensing arm 5. Moreover, the severedretained end of the cord continues to be pinched and held by the lip 14,so that it cannot slide back into the container 4. During subsequentpivoting of the spout 1 from the transverse closed position (FIGS. 4 and5) aligned open positions (FIG. 3), the cord 3, being pinched in slidingcontact with the surface of spout hub 6, is pushed, progressively out ofthe spout bore 8 until the bore aligns with the opening 13. At thatpoint a sufficient amount of cord projects from the spout orifice to bereadily grasped, and since it is also released from the grip of lip 14,any desired amount of cord may be drawn freely from container 4.

The length of the cord 3 partially wrapped around hub 6 when the spoutlies in the closed position is determined by the hub diameter and the 90degree swing of the spout between positions so as to project aconvenient length of cord automatically from the spout each time thedispenser is opened.

The cord 3 is preferably stored as a self-supporting multilayer helicalcoil at 15 in the cord container 4. When being drawn from the container,the cord 3 is unwound from the interior of the coil 15. This minimizesthe off-axis angle of departure of the cord from the coil in moving tothe hole 13 in the dispenser base 2 and hence minimizes any tanglingtendency of the coil turns.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined by the following:
 1. A cord dispensingdevice comprising:a first cord dispensing means defining a first cordpassage passing completely therethrough, said first cord dispensingmeans having a curved surface portion; a second cord dispensing meansdefining a second cord passage passing completely therethrough, whereinsaid first and second cord dispensing means are held in a movablerelation with respect to each other; and a cord threaded through saidfirst and second cord passages; wherein said second cord dispensingmeans includes ridge means for pinching said cord against said curvedsurface portion of the first cord dispensing means when said first andsecond cord passages are nonaligned, to prevent inadvertant retractionof said cord through said second cord passage and to hold said cord sothat it may be conveniently cut after being dispensed from said corddispensing device; said ridge means also being for preventing said cordfrom moving substantially in an axial direction relative to said secondcord passage when said first and second cord passages are moved towardsalignment to thereby automatically dispense a length of said cord fromsaid first cord passage as said passages are moved towards alignment. 2.The device as in claim 1, wherein said ridge means comprises a lipadjacent to and at least partially surrounding one end of said secondcord passage.
 3. The device as in claims 1 or 2, wherein:said first corddispensing means comprises an elongated dispensing arm defining saidfirst cord passage and having at one end a pivotal hub that defines saidcurved surface portion and has a pivot axis generally transverse to saidfirst cord passage; and said second cord dispensing means defines asocket pivotally receiving said hub, wherein said second cord passage islocated in the plane of pivotal movement of said dispensing arm.
 4. Thedevice as in claim 3, further comprising a pair of stub shafts extendingcoaxially from opposite sides of said hub, and wherein said second corddispensing means define a pair of stub shaft receiving sockets whichpivotally receive said stub shafts.
 5. A process for a new use for adispenser of the type comprising:a first dispensing means defining afirst passage passing completely therethrough, said first dispensingmeans having a curved surface portion; a second dispensing meansdefining a second passage passing completely therethrough, wherein saidfirst and second dispensing means are held in a movable relation withrespect to each other; and wherein said second dispensing means includesridge means opposing said curved surface at least some of the time whensaid passages are nonaligned; and wherein the method comprises the stepof positioning a cord in said passages.
 6. The process of claim 5,further comprising the steps of:pinching said cord between said ridgemeans and said curved surface of the first dispensing means; andpositioning said cord between at least a portion of said curved surfaceand at least a portion of said second dispensing means.
 7. The processof claims 5 or 6, wherein said ridge means comprises a lip adjacent toand at least partially surrounding one end of said second passage. 8.The process of claims 5 or 6, wherein said first dispensing meanscomprises an elongated dispensing arm defining said first passage andhaving at one end a pivotal hub that defines said curved surface portionand has a pivot axis transverse to said first passage; andsaid seconddispensing means defining a socket pivotally receiving said hub, whereinsaid second passage is located in the plane of pivotal movement of saiddispensing arm.
 9. The process of claim 8, wherein said ridge meanscomprises a lip adjacent to and at least partially surrounding one endof said second passage.
 10. The process of claim 9, wherein said pivotalhub further comprises a pair of stub shafts extending coaxially fromopposite sides of said hub, and said second dispensing means defines apair of stub shaft receiving sockets which pivotaly receive said stubshafts.